Single-Use Cameras, also known as Film with Lens Units One-Time-Use Cameras or Recyclable Cameras, have provided the camera user with a miniaturized, inexpensive, rugged and easy to operate alternative to traditional camera designs. As a result, these Single-Use Cameras are often carried by their owners on a regular basis and employed under conditions where owners would not normally take expensive cameras. These modern Single-Use Cameras are now available with many amenities designed to make picture taking more enjoyable and easier under a variety of environmental or lighting conditions. For example, these cameras are now available with flash units designed to widen the range of suitable lighting conditions. Other units are available in water resistant housings, or in submersible housings for underwater photography, and with modified film formats, for example, panoramic formats. These are all designed to encourage carrying the camera around in daily activities, or in travel, or in adventurous vacation settings that may subject both the camera and user to risks of weather, accessibility, or even danger. Manufacturers have even encouraged the storage of such cameras in auto glove compartments so that they can be available to record damage from auto accidents. Representative examples of Single-Use Cameras are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,896,178; 4,954,858; 5,086,311; 5,170,199; 5,235,364; 5,315,332; 5,337,099; 5,353,076 and 5,361,111.
Motion sensors capable of activating other devices are known. These motion sensors can vary in size, complexity and mode of operation. They can sense either changes in their environment as, for example, inductive and infrared proximity detectors and both infrared and visible beam driven range finders. Alternatively, they can sense changes in their position as, for example, inertial accelerometers. Accelerometers are electromechanical devices which change in conductivity or output when moved, jostled, or otherwise physically disturbed. Recent disclosures of accelerometers and their uses include the portable alarms described at Beaudry, U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,832 and at Schwartz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,188; the auto anti-theft system described at Boyles, U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,140 and the microaccelerometers described by Brokaw et al at U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,345,824 and 5,417,111.